Stairs vs Elliptical?
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Gaygirl2120
Posts: 541 Member
Ok so I have heard that the stairs burn way more calories than a lot of cardio machines. But when I do the stairs I burn less than half of what I burn on the elliptical according to my Fitbit. But I am dripping in sweat & ready to die when I'm finished with the stairs. Is it a quality over quantity thing? I don't get why it shows I burn so fewer calories on the stairs.
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Replies
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Sweat doesn't correlate to calorie burn
If you have a HR-based Fitbit, check how your heart rate was different on the two.1 -
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Hmmmm - I typed up a long response that disappeared.
Essentially, the Fitbit is just a fancy pedometer (unless you have the one with HR monitor). If you compare them based on the number of strides you're taking, stair-climbing is a lot more work (literally and figuratively) than the elliptical because you're expending all of the effort to raise your body up the steps. Ellipticals are a striding motion where a portion of the work is done by the machine itself.
I would input your exercise separately for when you're doing stairmaster and elliptical, and use the Fitbit for the rest of your regular walking/running activities.1 -
To add to that - when you're on the stairmaster, your Fitbit is really just measuring the back and forth motion of your arm, and probably thinks you're out for a somewhat leisurely stroll. It doesn't "know" you're pulling yourself up a step repeatedly. When you're on the elliptical, you're going faster and your arms are moving faster, so your Fitbit thinks you're doing a kickazz run. So it's really incorrectly comparing "walking" to "running", rather than stairclimbing to elliptical.4
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deluxmary2000 wrote: »To add to that - when you're on the stairmaster, your Fitbit is really just measuring the back and forth motion of your arm, and probably thinks you're out for a somewhat leisurely stroll. It doesn't "know" you're pulling yourself up a step repeatedly. When you're on the elliptical, you're going faster and your arms are moving faster, so your Fitbit thinks you're doing a kickazz run. So it's really incorrectly comparing "walking" to "running", rather than stairclimbing to elliptical.
Depends on model. Mine has an elliptical setting. Sadly i run funny ( stiff) so it assumes im on an elliptical1 -
It all depends on how high your heart rate is. If you are staying at a certain heart rate on both exercises, you'll burn the same amount of calories.
On the flip side though, I think you would have more benefit from doing the stairs if you had to choose one because you are not in a fixed plane of motion and are able to use your balance and freely move your body in a natural movement pattern for you.1 -
Do both, they each have benefits and it will help with boredom.2
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It all depends on how high your heart rate is. If you are staying at a certain heart rate on both exercises, you'll burn the same amount of calories.
No, it's unrelated.
On an elliptical, it's helping you move and supporting your weight.
When running, nothing is helping you and it burns more energy.
Climbing stairs, nothing is helping you and you are accelerating against gravity.
Running up stairs will burn the most per mile, running flat a little less, eliptical a lot less.2 -
Elliptical1
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scorpio516 wrote: »It all depends on how high your heart rate is. If you are staying at a certain heart rate on both exercises, you'll burn the same amount of calories.
No, it's unrelated.
On an elliptical, it's helping you move and supporting your weight.
When running, nothing is helping you and it burns more energy.
Climbing stairs, nothing is helping you and you are accelerating against gravity.
Running up stairs will burn the most per mile, running flat a little less, eliptical a lot less.
Calorie burn is not based on some philosophical interpretation of movement. Calorie burn is based on the actual work being performed and the oxygen being consumed. The first answer was sort of correct but not exactly. There are some factors (body position, for one) that can affect heart rate response relative to oxygen uptake.
Almost any piece of commercial cardio equipment has the capacity to work beyond human capacity. So, for any level of activity that one might do, an elliptical can be set up to do the same work level (and thus burn the same calories).
The fact that many people do not push themselves hard enough on an elliptical, doesn't mean that they can't.
Climbing stairs (whether in real life or on a stairclimber) feels hard for two reasons. One: it IS hard, relative to the vigor of the movement; Two: because of the heavier resistance on the leg muscles, an un- or undertrained person will experience localized muscle fatigue more easily than some other forms of cardio. So, while it is fairly hard, it feels even harder than it is. If one were to train frequently on a stairclimber, that exaggerated perceived exertion would diminish over time.2 -
If you're talking about the step mill machine and not the stair master, that's the ticket. I use it because the most fit, and the least fit people in the gym use it. People who got goals lol.2
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Thank you everyone for the input. Either way I'm going to do the stairs more often to change things up & challenge myself.0
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The Stairmaster is harder because there is no mechanical assistance using it as there is w/the elliptical. A spin bike is very similar to an elliptical in terms of mechanics.
There is no mechanical assistance w/a treadmill either but you use your glutes/quads more on the Stairmaster than on a treadmill.
So, IMO, assuming the same level of effort, the Stairmaster should give you the "best" overall workout of the 3, based on the muscles used and the cals burned.
I use a Concept rower and LeMond spin bike at home and the Stairmaster at the gym. I prefer the Stairmaster over the rower and spin bike but mainly use the rower becaise it's the most convenient.
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Personally, I feel like climbing stairs is one of the hardest cardio workouts out there. I can do an hour on the treadmill or elliptical but after 5 minutes of stairs, I feel like I'm going to have a heart attack.:D2
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